Sunday, May 24, 2009

Pakistan misses out on yet another party

So the Champions League has been scheduled for India in October. The tournament will include 12 teams. A country that will be notably unrepresented? Pakistan!
Last year's IPL finalists Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Super Kings will not be eligible. Sialkot Stallions, the winners of Pakistan's domestic Twenty20 tournament, will not feature as originally scheduled because their government has restricted travel to India.

"Unfortunately, the Pakistan government won't give them clearance to come to India, and since yesterday was out cut-off date, it's not possible to have a team from Pakistan this year," said Modi. "Delhi Daredevils this year have highest points from the league. But from next year, the third team from India will be decided from a play-off between the two losing semi-finalists."
[LINK]

It's bad enough that Pakistan players aren't in the IPL this year. But this really takes the cake! How does Pakistan manage to deny these players such a great opportunity!

This is not a PCB decision - it's a Pak govt thing. This was in response to the Mumbai attacks / Mohammad Asif's detention in Delhi in January.

Whatever the reasons, Pak govt should have rethunk it. I know they have their hands full with more important issues. But PCB/govt should have been proactive on this.

Pakistan is suffering so much already from a dearth of cricket. This just makes things so much worse!

Make your pitch on this post...



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22 Pitched:

  1. Rayden said...
     

    Well that sucks. First thing regarding the IPL, I think the Pak Govt should have reacted really quickly when IPL was shifted to SA. If they announced immediately the players would be allowed to go to SA, then some of the teams would definitely have picked up their contracted players. By leaving it so late, the franchises picked up all their new players etc and had no room anymore for the Pak players.

    Now regarding the champions trophy, Pak players will be missed during that tournament. Although I have a feeling it is not the last we have heard of it. There might be some more controversy or arguments between BCCI and PCB coming up shortly which is quite sad as even with all the problems the two countries had / has with each other, the two cricket boards always got along and acted as one in any international voting or policy making.

  2. adverbin said...
     

    Since they are currently arguing that India/SL/BanglaDesh are as unsafe as Pakistan, it would look ludicrous and undermine their contention if they clear Pakistani sportsmen to play in India. So I can follow their rationale; but I do not have to like it.

  3. SledgeHammer said...
     

    @adverbin: good point. Would go against govt/PCB logic.

  4. Q said...
     

    Rayden: I think the IPL shifted to SA only after the auction had happened and the final squads been announced. It was too late for Pak players I think..

    Ur right that despite all the Govt's not getting along, the board always did.. but this this is the first time the boards are not on good terms.

    It keeps getting worse for Pakistan.

  5. Q said...
     

    I don't like this Sledge.. Pakistan's domestic T20 tournament starts tomorrow.. Maybe the BCCI and other boards should have waited for a Pak champion before announcing this..

    Pakistan is the only international team out of the top 8 that wont have a team in the champions league. If this is not isolation, what is?

  6. Q said...
     

    But I see Adverbin's point of view as well.. even if India allowed, maybe Pak would have pulled out..

    In either case, Pak is not helping itself..

  7. RGB said...
     

    PCB should file another law suit against ICC, BCCI and may be all the other boards as well.

    That will defintely help in ending the isolation.

  8. Q said...
     

    RGB: I don't think that is required, but maybe a law suit against the evil conniving bitch of a Lalit Modi maybe the order of the day..

    First he fails to inform the PCB of any deadline for the Champions League, he fails to even tell them that they are not invited, he 2nd guesses the Pak Govt...

    And if that wasn't enough he even lies abt the ICC and FTP and the CL's inclusion in that.

  9. RGB said...
     

    Q,
    Does Lalit Modi have any obligation for the betterment of Pakistan cricket?

  10. Q said...
     

    RGB: no he doesn't. But as the IPL commissioner and co-owner of the Champions League, he has an obligation to communicate with all his members.

    How would u like it if I invited u to a party... then cancelled the party and told u that it will be held on another date.. and then I announce the date in the media and say, oh btw RGB has not been invited.

    ?

  11. RGB said...
     

    "How would u like it if I invited u to a party... then cancelled the party and told u that it will be held on another date.. and then I announce the date in the media and say, oh btw RGB has not been invited ?"

    If in the meantime I slander you at every possible opportunity and still expect to be invited for the party, it certainly would be very daft of me.

    Modi should have communicated the decision to PCB before telling it to the media. But given the PCB's recent attitude towards playing conditions in India, IPL and BCCI, I do not PCB have much of a case regarding the omission in CL.

  12. SledgeHammer said...
     

    @RGB: PCB slandering BCCI/IPL/Modi at every opportunity? Really?

    After the Mumbai attacks, India refused to tour Pakistan. Fine, I have no argument with this.

    Then Pakistan responded by not allowing their players to take part in IPL. I don't agree with this, but I understand where they are coming from. Such reciprocity is the norm, and nothing new. Also, Mohammad Asif was detained for no real reason at Delhi airport, so that also contributed to some concern.

    Modi did a pretty sleazy move here. All he had to do was let PCB know of a deadline, and leave the ball in PCB's court. Trust me, the PCB would probably have messed it up themselves. But Modi has shown that he intentionally excluded Pakistan from the CL to satisfy his own personal desires.

    Fair enough. He's the king of the ring right now, and can do whatever he wants.

    Arrogance won't pay off in the long run. Stanford learned that the hard way. So have the ICC with their 2007 WC fiasco.

  13. RGB said...
     

    The decision not to tour Pakistan was made by the GoI and not by BCCI.

    PCB's response of not sending its players to the IPL did affect the brand quality of the IPL.

    And then you have PCB trying to cast aspersions on safety of playing in India, trying to take WC out of the sub-continent and Miandad alleging match fixing in IPL.

    Is it really a surprise that Pakistan was omitted from the CL?

    "Such reciprocity is the norm, and nothing new."
    Agree . And Modi has reciprocated back by omitting Pakistan from CL.

  14. Q said...
     

    RGB: It was an Indian Govt. decision not to send the team to Pak, and it was a Pak Govt. decision not to send the players to the IPL.

    Till now, both the boards had nothing to worry abt.

    Then the world cup fiasco happened. Now whatever the PCB has been saying regarding the hosting being taken away is uncalled for, I agree. However, we need to understand that the PCB felt let down by the BCCI when they did not stand up for them.

    Im not saying the BCCI were wrong, they cud not have supported PCB considering their own interest in hosting the WC, but in another time they might have, hence the PCB's trash talking.

    But is that enough reason to leave Pak out of the CL when every other cricket nation is invited?

    As for the IPL.. none of the Pakistan board members have spoken against that at all.

    Yes Miandad talked abt the fixing, but he wasn't alone. The indian media was full of the fixing stories as well.

  15. SledgeHammer said...
     

    @RGB: It's not only Pakistan that cast doubts on playing in India.

    The England team left temporarily after the Mumbai attacks. The Champions League for 2008 was canceled. The 2009 IPL was moved to South Africa.

    So many other cricketers said things like playing in India is dangerous, and cricket is not worth risking their lives.

    And Modi picks out PCB as his one target???

    Q is right - it was between govts. The boards had no problem with each other.

    But BCCI/Modi seems to be a little too involved in subcontinental politics, and decides to mix the two up.

    When Pakistan was stripped of its hosting rights, BCCI said nary a word. PCB and BCCI have generally enjoyed good relations. And working with PCB to make Pakistan drop its hosting rights on its own terms would have been classy.

    A courtesy CL reminder to PCB would have been the decent thing to do.

    I give BCCI/Modi a lot of credit for their successes. I admire them for it, for injecting so much into cricket. But they have shown little or no class at all when it has come to relations with Pakistan.

  16. RGB said...
     

    Q,
    "However, we need to understand that the PCB felt let down by the BCCI when they did not stand up for them."

    What do you think should the BCCI have done to show solidarity with the PCB? There is no chance of Pakistan hosting the WC matches. In such a situation PCB should have voluntarily stepped down.

    "Im not saying the BCCI were wrong, they cud not have supported PCB considering their own interest in hosting the WC, but in another time they might have, hence the PCB's trash talking"

    And they have. BCCI was the only memeber which supported Pakistan's right to host the Champions Trophy.This time they could not have done anything else.

    "But is that enough reason to leave Pak out of the CL when every other cricket nation is invited?"

    The whole World Cup fiasco should have been handled better. But I think PCB crossed the line when they tried to take the WC out of the sub-continent and then decided to file the law suit. Now the BCCI has retaliated and I think they are within their limits.

    "As for the IPL.. none of the Pakistan board members have spoken against that at all.

    Yes Miandad talked abt the fixing, but he wasn't alone. The indian media was full of the fixing stories as well"

    Isn't Miandad a part of the PCB? And hasn't he called the IPL a joke?

    The part of Indian media which was vociferous about the match fixing allegation is part of the Zee group. Is that surprising?

  17. RGB said...
     

    "The England team left temporarily after the Mumbai attacks. The Champions League for 2008 was canceled. The 2009 IPL was moved to South Africa. "

    The England team returned to play the test series. The Champions League will be held in India this year and IPL was shifted due to the elections. Some players may not voiced their discomfort but nobody has refused to play in India.


    "And working with PCB to make Pakistan drop its hosting rights on its own terms would have been classy."

    The classy thing would have been
    PCB voluntarily dropping its claim to host.

    "But they have shown little or no class at all when it has come to relations with Pakistan"

    None worse than PCB's recent attitude towards BCCI.

  18. SledgeHammer said...
     

    @RGB: I totally agree that the classy thing for PCB to do would have been dropping hosting rights. I believe 100% that Pakistan didn't deserve to host WC matches. The ICC took the right decision.

    But the means were absolutely wrong. Just stripping them unceremoniously was terrible, and no one voicing any concern at all. If PCB was given some options (e.g. keeping the hq, staging some matches in UAE), or maybe just some time to think before being stripped, it would have made a big difference.

    Miandad is a loudmouth who has criticized almost everything. He hates 20-20, not just IPL (read a post from Q about his brief discussion with Miandad re: 2020).

    Do you think PCB/Pak fans like being in this situation where no team tours Pakistan? And that teams are attacked when they visit?

    Pakistan is suffering a lot. There is no normal life - we are in a civil war. Cricket is one of the only escapes, and that has been virtually taken away. It's easy to keep blaming Pakistan, but put yourself in the shoes of a Pak fan and you may think differently.

    I think the lawsuit is a bit silly, and so do most Pakistanis. But it's really a reaction to the way PCB/Pak were treated.

    Sri Lanka was attacked, and yet they have not spoken one word against PCB/Pak. They have only expressed their solidarity.

    BTW, see a difference here. Pakistanis don't really support PCB/Miandad etc. when they do silly things. But many Indians see no fault in BCCI/Modi/etc, regardless of the cheapness of their actions.

    If Modi wants to mix personal hatred for Pak govt/Pakistanis and take it out in the cheap form he did, well then good for him. And good for those defending him - they obviously know nothing about being classy.

    Also, I know England returned. That's why I used the word "temporarily" - the meaning was pretty clear. And IPL and CL were moved away for security. Yes, IPL move was due to elections, but the problem was the lack of security given the elections. So not sure how you're trying to refute any of this. All teams saw India as an unsafe place to play, and Modi is concerned only about Pakistan! Laughable!

  19. Q said...
     

    RGB: I agree, the PCB should have put their hand up and said that the WC shud not be hosted in Pakistan. They shud have done that.

    But all they wanted was for the other boards to support them to host their matches elsewhere, e.g. the UAE.

    Thats the support they were looking for.

    As for Miandad calling the IPL a joke. That's not true. Miandad talked about 20-20 cricket as a whole. Him and Imran Khan have been vocal about how they think 20-20 cricket is a joke. Whether its the IPL, ICL, or any T20 they dont like the format.

    That was not an attack on the IPL.

    As for the fixing, there were more than the Zee people saying that.

  20. Q said...
     

    Sledge said it right!

    We in Pakistan always speak against the PCB's actions, but when Modi resorts to underhanded shit, the Indian public doesn't think he does anything wrong.

  21. RGB said...
     

    Sledgehammer,

    "But the means were absolutely wrong."
    I agree it should have been handled better. But that did not necessitate a law suit. The other options you mention are non starters.

    "Miandad is a loudmouth who has criticized almost everything."
    He may hate T20 but as a member of PCB it is expected that he behaves responsibly. Alleging match fixing in IPL is just not done.

    "Do you think PCB/Pak fans like being in this situation where no team tours Pakistan? And that teams are attacked when they visit? "
    Of course you wont. But it is situation in Pakistan that is responsible for that. Not the BCCI. And the PCB compounds the matter by its foolishly belligerent attitude.

    "I think the lawsuit is a bit silly, and so do most Pakistanis."
    The law suit may have been silly but the intention to shift WC out of the sub continent was pernicious.

    "BTW, see a difference here. Pakistanis don't really support PCB/Miandad etc. when they do silly things."
    Really? All Pakistanis? Then may be you should read some of the comments on Cricinfo, let alone the Pakistani forums.

    "But many Indians see no fault in BCCI/Modi/etc, regardless of the cheapness of their actions."
    I cant speak for others but I do not support Modi in all actions. But in this case I would as it was purely as a result of the the recent PCB attitude.

    "If Modi wants to mix personal hatred for Pak govt/Pakistanis and take it out in the cheap form he did, well then good for him."
    If Modi/BCCI were to mix the two why would they have supported PCB in all the issues till last year?

    CL was suspended due to security reasons. IPL was moved due to security reasons during the elections. That wont be the case during the WC. So far no other country except Pakistan has voiced reservations about playing the WC in India.

  22. RGB said...
     

    Q,

    The hosting rights were given to the subcontinent. Moving it to the UAE makes no sense.


    "As for the fixing, there were more than the Zee people saying that."
    As far as I know the Zee group was most vociferous about the allegations of match fixing. Besides that, Miandad is a member of the PCB. He cannot act like a publicity grabbing media organization. His allegation of match fixing do affect the credibility of the IPL.

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